The Future of Renewable Energy in The Industrial Sector

By Bill Abler, VP Commercial Development & Innovation

While the costs for solar and wind energy have decreased dramatically in the past five years, the number of industrial customers seeking Entergy’s thoughts about renewable energy has increased. Today, it’s easier to add renewables into a company’s energy mix to help control energy costs and/or meet sustainability goals.

Of the renewable options, solar photovoltaics (PV) has had the most rapid growth with more than 10 GW projected for installation in 2016 across the United States, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. And utility-scale solar costs are now projected to be less than $1.50/W and could be approaching $1/W over the next several years per recent GTM Research data.

Much of the popularity of solar energy is because it is a plentiful resource in several regions, is easy to permit, and can be constructed quickly, less than a year in many cases, which compares favorably to multi-year permitting and construction cycles for most other types of generation that burn a fossil fuel like natural gas.

While some companies have built their own on-site renewable resource, many have discovered that using their utility as the supplier can have several advantages. Your utility can build larger scale, more cost-effective facilities, has expertise to manage the development and construction, and helps you avoid the large capital investment costs and ongoing maintenance, property taxes, and other issues that can occur with renewable assets.

In Entergy’s four-state region, we have expanded our investments and experience with new solar technologies

In 2015, we installed three 500 kW solar projects in Mississippi to begin testing the technology. We also got regulatory approval in 2015 for a new 81 MW solar PV project to be constructed in Arkansas that will supply our utility under a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).

In 2016, we constructed an innovative 1 MW solar PV + battery pilot project in New Orleans. That project came online in June and is allowing us to test and better understand how to incorporate lithium-ion battery technology into our distribution system. Among other benefits, battery storage will help improve power quality and smooth out solar generation impacted by cloud cover.

And we expect to continue to grow our solar portfolio. We are currently conducting three renewable RFPs in Arkansas, Louisiana, and New Orleans, seeking 320 MW in aggregate of renewable energy.

In New Orleans, we are market testing a project that will enable Entergy to install solar panels directly on our customers’ rooftops. Our New Orleans utility will work with large rooftop owners, such as warehouses and distribution centers, to secure a long-term lease and install a large rooftop solar PV system that would directly feed the power it produces into the grid. Given the population density in New Orleans and what we learned from our own 1 MW ground-mounted project, we believe rooftop solar may be an attractive renewable energy solution for our customers and for us at Entergy. Customers who participate can benefit in multiple ways, including reducing their energy costs by receiving a monthly lease payment for use of their roof, having Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) transferred to them if they desire, meeting their sustainability objectives, and becoming a visible supporter of renewable energy in New Orleans.

The needs of every business are unique, and I encourage our customers and those interested in locating to our region to talk to our team at Entergy about solar and other technologies like battery storage and micro-grids.

We can assist your company in these areas and help you meet your energy management, sustainability, energy reliability, or other goals. Once we better understand your needs, we can work with you and our regulators to develop a solution that takes advantage of the growing options for renewable energy and help your business thrive.